Four incumbent judges challenged in the primary election appear to have kept their benches, but voters may look differently at the judiciary, said one candidate and the leader of the prosecutors’ union that backed him.

While three of the judges appear to have handily won their races, according to semiofficial results, the most contentious race, between Riverside County Superior Court Judge Craig Riemer and Supervising Deputy District Attorney John Henry, had the incumbent ahead by about 2.5 points on Wednesday, June 6.

Henry was backed by the Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Association, which put about $104,000 into his campaign through its political action committee and launched a website attack on Riemer and his judicial record. Riemer responded on his own website.

The association similarly targeted Judge Gary Tranbarger, who also used his website to answer the claims. The campaign against both judges attracted news media coverage. The debate about what constitutes a fair judicial decision went from courthouse hallways to supermarket aisles.

“I think it’s important to raise the awareness of what these judges do on a daily basis, and I think we accomplished that,” said John Aki, the president of the deputy district attorney association, which has about 280 members.

Henry said the judicial races helped “people understand that they need to pay attention to what goes on in the courts, just as much as they do with the city council, or the governor, or the legislature or even the presidency.”

Riemer said money is what made his race closer than the others.

“One-hundred thousand dollars to $150,000 is … certainly well over two times what I spent, and far more than what was spent by the challengers in any of the other three races. I think it’s the factor of the money spent by the challenger,” he said.

With all precincts reporting, Riemer had 51.26 percent of the votes, or 81,561, against Henry’s 48.74 percent, or 77,557.

The other incumbent judges, Tranbarger, Judge Victoria Cameron and Judge James Cox, all had comfortable leads over their opponents.

The prosecutors’ union PAC also had backed Richard T. Nixon against Tranbarger as well as incumbents Cameron and Cox.

“We truly respect the voters and their decisions,” Aki said. As for the judges, “we want them to understand that now not only are the district attorneys watching them and their actions in court, but also the public. And I think that’s very important.”

Riemer said being put under close scrutiny won’t affect how he makes rulings. “The job of a judge is to ignore the political consequences of a decision and, as much as humanly possible, apply the law and facts.”

About 49,000 ballots remained uncounted as of Wednesday, June 6. The county vote is scheduled to be certified Friday.

A journalist since 1975 for City News Service in Los Angeles, The Associated Press in Los Angeles and New York, and The Press-Enterprise, Richard K. De Atley has been Entertainment Editor and a features writer. He has also reported on trials and breaking news. He is currently a business reporter for The P-E. De Atley is a Cal State Long Beach graduate, a lifelong Southern Californian (except for that time in New York -- which was great!) and has been in Riverside since 1992.